Lansing City Council to vote on controversial Reutter Park development

We are being asked to bond for convenience sake when there is in fact parking available.

At-Large Councilmember Derrick Quinney

LANSING, MI – After months of meetings, the Lansing City
Council's Committee on Development and Planning voted 3-0 to move forward on the
redevelopment of the former YMCA building in downtown Lansing.

The full council will vote on the project Monday, Oct. 10.

The $28 million mixed-use residential development would
be located at 301 W. Lenawee St., spanning more than 141,000
square feet of residential and commercial space.

Plans call for 234 apartments and a 250-space parking ramp,
which would be purchased by the city's Brownfield Redevelopment Authority as
soon as the development is finished.

According to Karl Dorshimer, who handles the city's
economic development duties through the Lansing Economic Area Partnership, or
LEAP, having the city purchase the ramp was the only way the developer of the
project, Dan Essa, could secure financing.

The city's Brownfield Redevelopment Authority would pay between $3.7 million and $4.2 million for the ramp, depending on the cost of construction, which it
would finance by issuing $6 million in bonds, according to authority documents.

The developer would receive $1.48 million in
reimbursements for eligible brownfield activities, with a portion of that being
paid from the tax capture and the rest through the bond proceeds.

Dorshimer said the bonds will be repaid using tax-capture
dollars via the brownfield incentive and the parking revenues, and that the
ramp could be sold to the developer or another private entity within 10 years.

He said the 30-year bonds would be repaid in 18 years at
a total cost of $10.7 million.

It's that portion that has made committee members
skittish.

The full council originally approved a brownfield tax
incentive for the project in June, 2011, allowing the brownfield authority to
capture taxes on the completed development and return a portion to the
developer, offsetting his costs for building on blighted land.

When the original plan wasn't viable for financing, the
new plan – with the city-financed parking ramp – was offered.

At Wednesday's meeting, the committee also heard that
there's space available in other, existing city-owned parking ramps that could accommodate
the new residents and shoppers at the completed Reutter Park development.

Planning and Neighborhood Development director Bob
Johnson said the city-owned South Capitol parking ramp has 280 available spaces
for lease; the nearby Townsend Street ramp has 133.

However, he said residents of the new development would
want the convenience of attached parking.

He also said he wasn't certain there was a need for
additional parking, given the information that they city-owned ramps have 413
available spaces.

"I'm really struggling with (why we need to bond) when
there's this much parking available," Quinney said prior to the vote. "We are being
asked to bond for convenience sake when there is in fact parking available."

Council President Brian Jeffries, who sits on the committee, said he too retained concerns about the project, but would move it forward for a full vote.

The full council will vote on the proposed development at
its Monday, Oct. 15 meeting, at 7 p.m. in Lansing City Hall.